As pleased as they were with how they played Thursday and the scoring chances they generated, the Detroit Red Wings still came away empty for the second game in a row – no goals, no points.

The 1-0 loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden stung a little more than the defeat at Anaheim on Sunday by the same score. That’s because they felt they wasted an excellent 47-save performance by Jimmy Howard and lost on a fluke goal.

“It’s frustrating right now,” captain Henrik Zetterberg said. “Tomorrow, maybe we’ll think a little differently when we go through what we did tonight.

“Obviously, we got to score some more goals. We’re creating a lot of chances but we can’t really bear down when we get them.”

This is only the second time in their history the Red Wings have lost consecutive regular season games by a 1-0 score (it also happened on Nov. 11-13, 1954), according to team statistician Greg Innis.

They’re missing much firepower due to injuries (in particular to Pavel Datsyuk, Johan Franzen and Daniel Alfredsson), but they’re not making excuses. They know they still should be able to score more.

“It’s about finding a way; can’t feel sorry for yourself,” defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. “We know, especially this time of year, it’s about getting points. The moment you start feeling sorry for yourself you’re going the wrong way. You have you dig in here and really find a way through everything.

“Just keep playing hard. I think tonight was a pretty good effort. We did a lot of good things, but at the end of the day it’s about scoring some goals and getting a chance that way. We have to find a way to get some goals.”

The Red Wings have been shut out six times this season. They were blanked seven times in 2009-10, the most since Mike Ilitch bought the team in 1982. The franchise record was established in 1976-77, when they were shut out 11 times.